14 DAY TRIAL // A new version of the iOS operating system is about to be deployed “any day now” according to Apple pundit John Gruber, writing on his blog, Daring Fireball. iOS 7.1 is the requirement for streaming SXSW performances to iPhones and iPads, according to him.
Last month, Apple announced the first iTunes Festival to be held in the US, taking place at ACL Live at the Moody Theater, home of Austin City Limits. The company confirmed that iTunes Festival at SXSW would feature big names such as Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Pitbull, Keith Urban, ZEDD, and many others.
Every year, the company streams the shows to Apple device owners and, more often than not, a minimum firmware version is required for the stream.
“All five nights of the iTunes Festival will be available to enjoy for free as a live and on-demand stream via the iTunes Store on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC,” according to the February 19 press release. “Performances can also be seen in the iTunes Festival app on your iOS device or with Apple TV in stunning HD.”
This time around things aren’t any different, and now pundit John Gruber has an interesting tidbit to share with the class. From his blog:
“Apple's first iTunes Festival in the U.S. starts a week from today at SXSW in Austin. Apple is going to stream the performances to iOS devices using an app, but I've heard from a little birdie that the app requires iOS 7.1 (which explains why the app isn't out yet). That means iOS 7.1 should ship any day now.”
The release of iOS 7.1 has already been rumored to occur around mid-March, while Softpedia recently speculated that some issues in iOS 7.0.6 would prompt Apple to spit out the update even sooner.
Some customers reported battery drainage issues, while security experts signaled the presence of a new vulnerability in the software mere hours after iOS 7.0.6 rolled out to the masses. It remains to be seen if iOS 7.1 includes bug fixes for these reported flaws.
There’s also a fix in the works for the Touch ID “fading” issue, where an iPhone 5s presumably forgets the user’s prints and fails to authenticate when the user touches the fingerprint sensor. According to a recent report by AppleInsider, Apple could well pack this fix inside iOS 7.1.
iOS 7.1 will also deliver some graphical tweaks, new Siri voices, and other small changes, these being confirmed by developers with access to the latest betas.